ll, beyond
his wish; and from that time till now, O King of the Age, life hath
not been pleasant to him [366] and he will e'en have me seek her of Thy
Grace, [367] so thou mayst marry her with him, and I cannot do away this
conceit from his wit, for that the love of her hath gotten possession of
his vitals, so that he saith to me, 'Know, O mother mine, that, except
I attain my desire, assuredly I am a dead man.' Wherefore I crave Thy
Grace's clemency and hope that thou wilt pardon me and my son this
effrontery neither be wroth with us therefor."

When the King heard her story, he fell a-laughing, of his clemency,
[368] and asked her, "What is that thou hast with thee and what is that
bundle?" [369] Whereupon she, seeing that he was not angered at her
words, but laughed, opened the handkerchief forthright and proffered him
the dish of jewels. When the Sultan saw the jewels (and indeed, whenas
she raised the handkerchief from them, the Divan became as it were
all illumined with lamp-clusters and candlesticks), he was amazed and
confounded at their radiance and fell a-marvelling at their lustre and
bigness and beauty; and [370] he said, "Never saw I the like of these
jewels for beauty and bigness and perfection, nor methinketh is one of
them found in my treasuries." Then he turned to his Vizier and said to
him, "How sayst thou, O Vizier? Sawest thou ever in thy life the like of
these magnificent jewels?" "Never, O our lord the Sultan," replied the
Vizier, "nor, methinketh, is the least of those which be here found in
the treasuries of our lord the King." Quoth the Sultan, "Doth not he
who giveth me these jewels deserve to be bridegroom to my daughter
Bedrulbudour? Marry, by what I see, meseemeth none is worthier of her
than he."

When the Vizier heard the Sultan's words, his tongue was tied for
despite and he was overcome with exceeding chagrin, forasmuch as the
King had promised him that he would marry his daughter to his son;
so, after a little, he said to him, "O King of the age, Thy Grace
condescended to promise me [371] that the Lady Bedrulbudour should be my
son's; wherefore it behoveth thine exalted highness appoint a delay of
three months, [372] and God willing, my son's present shall be greater
than this." The King, for all he knew that this was a thing whereto the
Vizier might not avail, no, nor the greatest King, [373] nevertheless
exercised his clemency [374] and granted him the delay he sought; then,
turning